


Movie Star

by amuk



Series: Guardians [5]
Category: Vampire Knight
Genre: Alternate Universe, Choices, Community: 24hour_themes, F/M, Fame, Friendship, Hopeful Ending, Loss, Romance, Separations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 19:37:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/653710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amuk/pseuds/amuk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zero can only see Yuuki on movie screens and magazines.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Movie Star

**Author's Note:**

> Theme: 0400—improved luck or victory over a specific set of deterring circumstances

“Who was that man?” A dramatic turn, her brownish-red eyes fearful as she questions. “Why did he attack us?” Her voice trembles slightly at this part.

 

The music rises, a crescendo of trilling, and the dark-haired man in front of her approaches her softly. A close-up of his face, of his feet, of her shaking hands. Her eye widens, as big as the world, and then her back is shown.

 

“Kaname-kun...” she whispers as he leans down to her ear, his fingers brushing aside her hair.

 

“He’s, my dear Yuuki-chan.” The music reaches a climax before suddenly stopping. “Your brother.”

 

-x-

 

They don’t meet anymore. Once upon a time, they used to, in hidden cafes and in library nooks. Then _Fire and Ice_ came out, as well as _The Secret_ , and small things like hot coco and the rustling of papers became what they always were—small things. Unimportant things.

 

Impossible-to-do things.

 

Zero can only get a hold of Yuuki these days, if at all, by her old email account and the rarest of phone calls. Luckily, the paparazzi have yet to find either of those methods.

 

He doesn’t doubt they soon will. Then there will be nothing left.

 

-x-

 

The camera cuts to her soft lips, to the folds in her skirts. It slowly pans the room, highlighting the gothic windows (the iron bars, the sharp points, the dark curtains).

 

Something clinks and a flash of silver glints at the edge of the camera. Slowly, ever so slowly, it tilts to reveal a chain tying her to the bed.

 

“Why are you doing this, Kaname?” Her voice is soft and the camera only shows the fingers clenching. “Why?”

 

A shadow looms at the door, a twisted grin on his face. “Why wouldn’t I?”

 

He disappears into the hallway. On her hand, a teardrop falls.

 

-x-

 

Yuuki is a famous actress. Before that though, before the glimmering dresses, before the fame that came with her face, she was Zero’s neighbor.

 

They lived at the edge of the city, where the woods crept slowly in and it seemed like they were the only people in the world.

 

“You know,” Yuuki confided to him one day, “I want to visit the city.”

 

“Why would you want to go there?” He didn’t look up from his math homework, fingers carefully scrawling the answers.

 

“It seems...interesting.” She smiled, staring out the window. “I’ve always lived here and I want to explore the world.”

 

“...” He looked up know, watching the far-away expression on her face. “How do you expect to survive? You can’t even do our math problems.”

 

“...Well...uh...” She frowned to herself. “I...”

 

Sighing, he looked back down at the sheet. “I suppose I will have to go with you, then.”

 

He missed the smile on her face.

 

-x-

 

Zero hates watching movies. He stopped watching live-action when her visits were cut shorter and shorter, stopped watching animation when her apologies started to arrive, and stopped thinking of them entirely when it took months for even the smallest reply to a message.

 

He watches her new movies, though, once. Just once, in a theatre full of strangers. Love-sick teenagers crowd the back rows, throwing popcorn in the air and spilling sticky messes on the seats and floor. Parents hover, sitting worriedly a little ahead.

 

Zero sits in the middle. Exact middle. When the lights dim and the sounds blare in, he watches her dance her way through the scene. Sometimes she’s a poor beggar, trying to get shelter. Once she was a gypsy, prancing on stage of grass and stars. Another time she was a rich heiress, mourning her father’s death.

 

Today she is a young girl trying to find her best friend. Her friend is everywhere but nowhere. There are killers and secret messages, locked rooms and haunted passages. The crowd oohs and aahs over the whole thing, gasping at the right times.

 

Sitting rigidly in his seat, Zero watches the girl he used to know change once more.

 

-x-

 

“Why...why did you do this?” There is anger as well as bewilderment when she asks. Her fists clench, her eyes narrow. “WHY?”

 

His smile widens, hair billowing from the wind. She shivers (hands wrap around her chest, her back bends, her knees shake). The music stills, his hands softly land on her shoulders.

 

This time it is a side view of the two faces, facing each other. One is angry, the other smiling like this was all a very amusing game.

 

The camera zooms into her widening eyes, her slightly parted lips as she hears the answer.

 

“Because you don’t need him anymore.”

 

-x-

 

Being neighbors and, by default, best friends meant a lot of things. It meant evenings of watching lions become kings, dogs saving the world, adventures of mice in the sea. Yuuki always chose the shows and movies because he always watched and eat dinner at her house. She couldn’t cook, so he had to learn.

 

When they played card games after dinner, she would always reveal her hand. A smile, a grimace, her emotions flickered across her face and he learned to decrypt them. She was an open book to him, with the worst poker face in the world and usually the worst hand.

 

(It’s ironic how good she is now. He doubts he can read her anymore.)

 

They would spend the afternoon working on homework, Yuuki trying to get outside to play and Zero giving her a look that meant _‘If you don’t finish this now..._ ’ Yuuki never tried to find out beyond that. In the morning, they would walk to school together and Yuuki’s father would take them out for lunch every now and then.

 

Years went by in this manner—it was comfortable and safe and Zero didn’t really think he’d miss it.

 

But he does and he knows that those days can never come back again.

 

-x-

 

Her face is smeared on the paper, announcing her newest movie. On his computer, a small ding alerts him of a new email. Her name is highlighted beside the message.

 

His first from her in months. He hasn’t bothered checking the beeping answering machine to see if she called—she hasn’t done so in a year, so he doubts she will do so now.

 

_Zero-kun,_

 

_I’m sorry, I can’t write too much right now. I’m very busy these days—did you know I’m making a new movie? Well, you might, because you always read the newspaper, but you don’t watch movies unless someone forces you, so I suppose you might not pay attention to it..._

_Anyways, I’m making a new movie. Another one with Kaname-sama, even. I didn’t expect to be working with him so much. You should see him perform—he’s really professional and talented. He trains me sometimes._

_How have you been? I’m sorry I can’t visit or call as much as I used to—the paparazzi attack me when I get out the doors. Kaname-sama tells me that eventually they’ll get interested in someone else, so it’s best to try to keep their attention for now and not do anything stupid. I don’t think visiting you is stupid, but Kaname-sama said you’d probably prefer privacy over the photographers._

_Secretly, I think he’s right. I still want to see you, though. Maybe I should get a webcam or...we can take a photo! You take one and I take one and swap. I miss you, you know. You probably are getting a bit irritated right now with that—I’m working hard, you know, I’m try hard to not let anything get me down. Sometimes, though, I wish I was at home sitting on the couch watching a movie with you. Keep it warm for me, ok? I’ll try to sneak away from all of this one day._

_Love,_

_Yuuki_

 

He almost laughs. She obviously didn’t get the message that he’s moved to the city now, that the house has been abandoned for about three years. Still, he takes the time to reply, congratulating her. It’s a good thing that emotions cannot be conveyed through the internet—his words would sound bitter otherwise.

 

-x-

 

They met Kaname five years ago. Rather, Yuuki caught his attention when she was twirling in the front yards. Zero was sitting under a tree, a book on his laps, watching her from the corners of his eyes.

 

Kaname arrived, looking for her father, but was surprised to see instead a teenage girl floating through the flowers.

 

Yuuki took to things easily. She adopted stray animals that lingered on her porch steps, hoping for a meal. They never stayed long and she cried after each one, but she was always happy when the next one arrived. She helped transfer students and played with little kids in the park when there was no one else. She liked new languages and new facts, kept changing her favourite band and actor every week.

 

It was no surprise that she started to hang around Kaname during the visit. She would follow him around the house, haunting each footsteps.

 

( _He’s famous, Zero, famous! He’s an actor and a director and he was in the movie_ —)

 

It was a surprise however, when she suddenly announced that she was leaving in a week for lights, fame, and a land where the stars were always on the ground.

 

Especially since she wasn’t taking him.

 

-x-

 

Zero works on computers these days. He tries to break past security, pointing out the flaws in the firewalls and the holes in the network. Easy enough; when he got his first computer he had already started trying to break into the school’s servers.

 

It’s small work, though. Not anything that will put his name in the papers or make it easy for others to find him. So when Yuuki appears at his doorstep, alone and smiling awkwardly, he tries to not stare for too long.

 

Instead, he quickly ushers her in, mindful of the possible cameras lurking about.

 

“Zero-kun, I—”

 

“What are you doing here?” he interrupts, wincing at the tone. Harsher than he expected, but the question had to be asked.

 

She tugs on her skirt nervously and he’s reminded of her movies. Here is where the heroine asks the tough detective to help, there is the door the hero barges in. A mug will fall, shattering over the floor as a plot twist occurs.

 

He doesn’t want to be left behind again to pick up the pieces, to keep the clay in a small bag as a token of what occurred.

 

“I...I snuck out.” She looks around his room. What does she see? The neighbor, the best friend? A stranger with a world she is not a part of? There is a box, taped shut, with all the movies he owns, and there is a table wiped clean, a plate with a few stray crumbs lying on it. He still doesn’t eat as he should, forgetting at times.

 

She’s still looking. Maybe she’s trying to find his history, read the story of his past six years without her.

 

He wonders what she’s finding.

 

“I...” Yuuki starts again, closing her eyes. “I see you didn’t get those gifts I sent you.”

 

“What gifts?”

 

She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter. Maybe it never reached you—Kaname-san was rather protective.” He notices the change of suffix. “Either way, we can talk about it later. Right now, I just want to say Happy Birthday.” Reaching into her small handbag, she pulls out a book. “I’m sorry I missed the other ones.”

 

He watches her warily as he takes the box. “You could have just called, you know.”

 

“...I know.” She smiles. It’s not the one he’s seen a thousand times in the movies and papers, not the shy girl or the seductive mistress. It’s a smile he hasn’t seen in years, has almost forgotten it’s been so long, and he can’t move (breathe) for a moment. “I know, Zero-kun.”

 

“I just wanted to see you.”


End file.
